Friday, March 23. 2007

What started out as a light breeze turned into 40-knot winds and a world championships race cancelled after the lead swimmers passed the half-way point.

40 knots on the Beaufort Wind Scale are defined as somewhere between “a fresh gale that generally impeded progress and breaks twigs off trees” and “a strong gale where slight structural damage occurs”.

Additionally, two different squalls occurred during the first few loops. Turn buoys were being torn off from their anchors and waves were crashing over the feeding pontoons. The swimmers were faced with constant 3-4 foot waves coming from all directions. Towards the end, the race turned into a matter of survival versus racing.

But, Kalyn hung in tough and lasted until the race was called, finishing in 5th position approximately 13 kilometers from the start.